Himalayan Imports is actually not bad, price-wise, when you figure in two facts.
1. Most days of the week, on the Himalayan Imports subforum, H.I.'s proprietress, Yangdu Martino, offers for sale a number of bargain-priced khukuris. Some of these are "blems"--i.e., khukuris with a little surface rust, a non-serious crack in the handle, etc.; others are just specials for the day. Others are what H.I. calls "villager" khukuris, which are about the same as the standard grade, but not as highly polished. If you lurk on the site enough (and I recommend observing the time Yangdu is lately posting her "deals of the day" threads, and time your lurking to coincide with that time), you can usually get a very good H.I. khukuri for $75 or sometimes less. (And, yes, under $50 has been done. It's not too common, but it has been done.) Just do your homework, figure out in advance what you want, and then, ideally, lurk on the forum with an e-mail pre-written with your name, address, method of payment, and be ready to fill in the specifics of the knife you're interested in once it's posted. The best bargains are ordinarily snapped up within under 5 minutes.
2. The Himalayan Imports prices always include shipping within the continental U.S. Because a lot of the "less-expensive" khukuri suppliers do not include shipping, you usually end up paying about the same for one of them that you would for a Himalayan Imports blem or villager.
For your purposes, I'd probably go for a khukuri in the 15-17-inch overall length range. (H.I. uses overall length for measurements, so a "15-inch" knife usually translates into a roughly 10-inch blade, for example.) Much smaller than that and you'll find it doesn't do the excellent chopping job that khukuris are best at; larger than that and you may find that it's a beast that stays at home in a drawer. My favorite all-around khukuri model is the British Army Service (or "BAS") model, with a 10-inch blade. It will chop just about anything, if I'm patient--but isn't unwieldy enough to make me feel like it's wearing me rather than the other way around. I love the chiruwa ang khola (usually 16.5 inches), and its toughness (H.I. says they'll give you TWO replacements if you bend or break one), but I have to admit that these have thick enough blades that a lot of ordinary knife tasks wind up getting relegated to other knives. That said, it's what I get for my, and my sons', survival kits.
The sirupati model is slimmer, but I've never met one that wasn't a good chopper, too. Its slimmer blade would bend more easily than an ang khola or a Ganga Ram, but I've never actually had one bend, nor do I think it would be easy to do. It won't blast huge chips of wood from a large tree as fast as one of the heavier khukuris, but in practice I'd rather actually carry a khukuri that will go through a log in 20 chops than have one that would do it in 10 chops, but which I leave at home because it's too heavy.
For outdoor use, I'd probably steer clear of the Kobra model (light, fast, very thin, martial-arts oriented), and probably the Chainpuri, as well (similar). Those two models are so thin that you very likely would bend a blade with heavy outdoor use.
The Chitlangi I've seen, though slim, seems about as robust as a sirupati. Your mileage may vary. Gelbu Specials are a good mix of weight and slimness, but they tend to be pretty long--often over the 17-inch level. I like them a great deal, but they can end up locked away because 17 inches of knife plus scabbard is a lot of knife for most hikes.
World War II models are good choppers, but, again, tend to be a bit heavy and long for my taste. Also, the points are relatively obtuse.
Those are my observations; many may disagree. Think about where you're likely to be carrying or using it--will you be felling large trees? Or cutting thin brush? Or are you looking for a general-purpose survival knife?
Anyway, welcome, and enjoy!
